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millions! That is more than all Hispaniola. We would have more if it had not
been for the plague.
Mary nodded.  We envy you your crime rate.
 True, it is very low. Hispaniolans have always known to share. Having nothing
for so long makes a man generous.
Mary smiled.  It might make a Hispaniolan generous.
 Yes, I see, I see. Soulavier laughed. His every move was like a dance; his
whole body flexed gracefully even when he sat with a half-eaten fish in his
hands.  We are a good people. My people have deserved so much for so long. You
see why there is loyalty here. But why is there distrust and hatred outside?
He was trying to draw her out. The conversation might after all be less than
innocent.
 As I said, I m not very current on foreign affairs.
 Then tell me about Los Angeles. I have been taught a little. Someday perhaps
I
will go there but Hispaniolans seldom travel.
 It s a very complicated city, she said.  You can find nearly anything human
in
Los Angeles, good and bad. I don t think it would be workable as a city
without mental therapy.
 Ah, yes, therapy. There is none of that here. We regard our eccentrics as
horses of the gods. We feed them and treat them well. They are not ill; just
ridden hard.
Mary inclined dubiously.  We recognize a great many mental malfunctions. We
have the means to correct them. A clear mind is the pathway to a free will.
 You have been therapied?
 I haven t needed it, she said.  But I wouldn t object if I did need it.
 How many tberapied in Los Angeles?
 About sixty five percent have had some form of therapy, however minor. Some
therapy helps improve performance in difficult jobs. Socially oriented
therapies help people work better with each other.
 And criminals? They are therapied?
 Yes, she said.  Depending on the severity of their crime."
 Murderers?
 Whenever possible. I m not a therapist or a psychologist. I don t know all
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the details.
 What do you do with criminals who cannot be therapied?
 They re very rare. They re kept in institutions where they can t harm
others.
 These institutions, are they also for punishment?
 No, Mary said.
 We believe in punishment here. Do you believe in punishment in the United
States?
Mary did not know how to answer that.  I don t believe in punishment, she
said, wondering if she spoke the complete truth.  It doesn t seem very
useful.
 But there are many in your country who do. Your President Raphkind.
 He s dead, Mary said.
She noticed Soulavier bad become less graceful and less mobile, more stern and
intent. He was homing in on some point and she was not sure it would be
pleasant.
 A man and a woman, they are responsible for their lives. In Hispaniola,
especially in Haiti, we are very tolerant of what people do. But if they are
bad, if they become the horses of bad gods and that is metaphor, Mademoiselle
Choy... He paused.
 Vodoun is not widely practiced now. Not by my generation. But there is
belief, and there is culture... If they become the horses of bad gods it is
the individual s fault, too.
You do them a favor by punishment. You alert their souls to error.
 That sounds like the Spanish Inquisition, she said.
Soulavier shrugged.  Colonel Sir is not a cruel man. He does not impose
punishment on his people. He lets them choose in their own courts. We have a
just system, but punishment not therapy is part of it. You cannot change a
man s soul. That is white man s illusion. Perhaps in the United States you
have lost the truth of these things.
Mary did not argue the point. Soulavier s sternness passed and he smiled
broadly.
 I appreciate conversation with people from outside. He touched his head.
 Sometimes we grow too used to where we live. Standing, brushing grains of
sand from his black pants, he looked past the boardwalk to the police station.
 The Inspector General may be ready now.
One more skull on the pile
Might knock the whole mountain down...
 Popular song lyric
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